Five seniors on St. Ed’s rowing team assisted in pulling off a feat last month at the Florida Scholastic Rowing Association championships in Sarasota that will force them to miss the prom this Saturday and the commencement ceremony next Saturday.
“While it is unfortunate that we are missing both the prom and commencement, we recognize that we have a unique opportunity,” said senior Sean Barry. “We have been training for years to get to this point and we are honored to represent St. Edward’s at these prestigious regattas.”
At Sarasota the Pirates qualified two boats for the Scholastic Rowing Association of America National Championship Regatta in New Jersey May 23-24.
The boys and girls varsity 4+ crews will warm up for that event by participating in the Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia this weekend. Head Coach Aaron Lee described Stotesbury as the “Spiritual Home of Rowing.”
An entourage of rowers, coaches and parents will travel north from Wednesday through Sunday on consecutive weekends that coincide with the prom and commencement. The untimely tradeoff comes as a result of the astounding success of a rowing program that burst onto the scene last year when the boys varsity 4+ boat qualified for nationals.
This year coxswain Ella Merrill will direct the boys varsity 4+ boat with rowers Barry, Will Tremml, Sean Kenney and Gunther Read. The girls varsity 4+ crew has coxswain Rachel Gambee steering and barking out orders to rowers Kiersten Grella, Amber Quinlan, Maggie Taylor and Paige McGuire.
“For such a small school to have rowers performing at such a high level is really extraordinary,” Coach Lee said. “We expect them to do well at both regattas. The guys are hoping to bring back another big shiny trophy for the school. The girls are hoping to get one themselves.
“I don’t think we’re going to see another year where half of our graduating class will go on to row in college. We’re just starting to build the type of program that puts kids on college rosters. It’s amazing.”
Seniors Barry (Georgetown), Tremml (Dartmouth), Grella (UCF) and Quinlan (both UCF) became, as their coach described, “so enthusiastic and dedicated that they wanted to keep rowing in college.” And so they will. Senior coxswain Merrill will focus on academics at Barnard College in New York City.
“Throughout this season the girls were entirely unsure about how we would do at states,” Grella said. “We almost didn’t really believe in ourselves. But we gave it our all and we surprised ourselves with how much we’ve improved and how well we work together.
“I played volleyball for eight years before I started to row. I really wanted to be an athlete in college. When I found rowing I realized I loved the sport and wanted to continue with it. I was still undecided about college when I emailed the UCF rowing coach. She got back to me right away and said we’d love to have you on the team.”
Grella and Quinlan are relatively new to rowing, this being their second year on the team. Grella said the optimum outcome for the girls crew would be to qualify for the second day of racing at both regattas.
“When I started rowing last year I definitely didn’t see this happening,” said Quinlan. “I was a theater kid before I started rowing. I never thought I would ever participate in a high school varsity sport.
“We came in fourth scholastically (at states) but only 1.5 seconds from placing first. We pretty much had the kind of year the boys had last year.
“The trips we are taking will be really exciting. Going to New Jersey for nationals is an incredible feeling. Rowing at UCF will definitely be part of a whirlwind experience. ”
This will be the second try at nationals for third-year rowers Barry and Tremml. St. Ed’s varsity 4+ boat finished fifth in 2013.
“We would like to see even better results than last year,” Barry explained. “Our best time in Sarasota was 5:03 (for 1500m). I would like to see a sub five at nationals. That would give us the best chance to compete with the top tier boats from Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York.
“I’m thrilled to be rowing at Georgetown. I knew that when I went on my official visit it was the right fit for me. I’m honored to have the opportunity to join an elite crew and attend a fabulous academic institution.”
Tremml, who from a very young age wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and attend Dartmouth, credited a more confident attitude at states with the crew’s recent success.
“Last year the theme was to barely make it through and eke into the finals. This year our goal is to win every time. We are going to push hard and see how far we can go.
“After getting into Dartmouth I contacted the coach and our discussion led me to strongly believe that I would be on the rowing team. I was never fast enough to be officially recruited, but I knew that this was the type of school environment for me.”
